Phase detector and a method determining the phase of received PSK symbols

ABSTRACT

A digital demodulator and method for demodulating digital data representing a phase shift keyed (PSK) signal are provided. The demodulator comprises a phase detector, automatic frequency controller, automatic timing recovery controller, data decoder, and unique word detector. According to the method of the present invention, a PSK signal is received and digitized to substantially remove the signal&#39;s amplitude characteristics. The phase detector receives an input of the digital data and based upon transitions in the data from a high state to low state and from a low state to a high state, provides phase estimates. The phase estimates are converted by the data decoder into binary data representing the symbols transmitted to form the PSK signal. A number of overlapping windows of digital data are used to determine phase estimates. The unique word detector receives an input of binary data from the data decoder and using a correlation technique identifies one set of windows which substantially maximizes synchronization of the demodulator with the received PSK signal. After the synchronizing window has been identified the automatic frequency controller monitors any frequency drift of the PSK signal and corrects the phase estimates based on the frequency error. The automatic timing recovery controller uses the corrected phase errors from early and late windows with respect to the synchronizing window to adjust the timing of the synchronizing window by advancing or delaying the demodulator&#39;s symbol timing signal to further maximize synchronization with the received PSK signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/999,210, filed Dec.31, 1992, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,894 on Dec. 27, 1994. Thisapplication is also related to copending application, Ser. No.08/013,625, filed Feb. 4, 1993, which is assigned to the same assigneeand is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the demodulation of digitalsignals and more particularly to the demodulation of quadature phaseshift keyed (QPSK) signals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Presently, the design of commercial cordless telephone systems is basedprimarily on analog signal processing and transmission techniques. Theuse of digital techniques in other transmission systems have resulted inimproved system performance due to a reduction in signal interferenceand noise achieved using digital techniques. It is, therefore, desirableto incorporate digital signal processing and digital transmissiontechniques in the next generation cordless telephones.

Such cordless telephone systems typically include a battery poweredportable station (handset) and a base station. The base station isoptimally connected to other telecommunication networks. Although theinvention may be used in any digital transmission system, its use willbe described herein for application in digital cordless telephone (DCT)systems.

Communication channels between the handsets and base stations in DCTsystems may be set up using slotted ALOHA, a well known TDMA (timedivision multiple access) technique. The DCT system may communicate, forinstance, using TDD (time division duplexing) for transferringinformation between the handsets and the base station. It is typical insuch systems to operate in both burst and continuous modes. The burstmode is generally used to broadcast messages and to transmit controlinformation, i,e. to set up a link between the base station and aparticular handset. Once all of the control functions have beenperformed to set up a link, data, i.e. voice data, may be transmittedusing a series of continuous bursts, referred to as the continuous mode.

A common form of digital communication employs a digital modulationtechnique known as Phase Shift Keying (PSK). In PSK, the phase of acarrier signal is switched between two or more values in response tobinary data representing the information to be communicated. Where onlytwo transmit phases are provided, each phase represents a single binarydigit. For instance, the carrier signal can be switched so that itsphase is 180° in response to a binary "1" and switched to 0° in responseto a binary "0". This technique is known as phase reversed keying (PRK).The PRK waveform can be written as

    .o slashed..sub.1 (t)=A sin(ω.sub.c t)               (1)

    .o slashed..sub.2 (t)=-A sin(ω.sub.c t)              (2)

where ω_(c) is the angular frequency of the carrier and .o slashed.₁ and.o slashed.₂ are the phases of the PRK signal. The PRK waveformaccording to equations (1) and (2) is shown in FIG. 1.

To increase bandwidth efficiency (the number of bits transmitted perunit of time), a technique known as quadature PSK (QPSK) is used. InQPSK each transmit phase represents two bits of data thereby increasingthe amount of data that can be transmitted over each phase interval. Theadvantage of QPSK modulation is that both the in-phase (I) and thequadature (Q) portions of the carrier signal can be modulated andcombined to form the QPSK signal. For instance, FIG. 2a. shows anunmodulated phaser of the carrier signal. FIG. 2b and FIG. 2c show themodulated carrier of each the I and Q portions of the carrier signalrespectively. The QPSK signal can be represented by:

    .o slashed.1=A cos(ω.sub.c t)                        (3)

    .o slashed.2=-A sin (ω.sub.c t)                      (4)

    .o slashed.3=-A cos (ω.sub.c t)                      (5)

    .o slashed.4=A sin (ω.sub.c t)                       (6)

The phaser diagram shown in FIG. 2d results from the combination of theI and Q portions of the carrier signal.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a prior art coherent QPSK demodulator. Asshown, the QPSK carrier signal is received and filtered by bandpassfilter 500. Filter 500 rejects undesirable adjacent channel interferenceand thermal noise. Typically, automatic gain control (AGC) 502 isutilized to adjust the energy level of the received signal. In a TDMAsystem, large burst-to-burst level differences arising from downlinkfading due to atmospheric attenuation, distance and scattering can varysignificantly. Thus AGC 502 detects the peak power of the receivedsignal and provides feedback to the receiver so that the receiver'samplifier levels can be adjusted according to the strength of thereceived signal. Power divider 504 is provided to compensate for thepower level difference in the carrier phase and bit timing recoverycircuits 506 and 508 respectively.

The carrier phase recovery circuit 506 extracts the I and Q signalcomponents from the received PSK signal. The 90° hybrid circuit 510 isused to separate the I and Q signals. To this end, the I signal is mixedwith the cos (ω_(c) t) and the Q signal is mixed with the sin(ω_(c) t)by mixers 514 and 512 respectively. Integrators 518 and 516 are used todetect the energy of the down converted signal over each time intervalaccording to a well-known relationship: ##EQU1## where f(t) is thesignal (i.e., ideally f(t)=.o slashed.1, .o slashed.2, .o slashed.3 or.o slashed.4 over the interval t1 to t2) and E is the energy of thesignal over the time interval t1 to t2. Since there are two transmitphases for each of the I and Q signals and they are separated by a 180°phase shift, the phase of the signals over a given time interval iseither +E or -E as shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 shows that when the detected energy of the in-phase signal is -E,the probability that the received signal corresponds to transmit phase.o slashed.2 (equation 4) is greatest and when the detected energy ofthe in-phase signal is +E the probability that the received signalcorresponds to transmit phase .o slashed.4 (equation 6) is greatest.Similarly, FIG. 4 shows that when the detected energy of the quadaturesignal is -E, the probability that the received signal corresponds to .oslashed.3 (equation 5) is greatest and when the detected energy of thequadature signal is +E, then the probability that the received signalcorresponds to .o slashed.1 (equation 3) is greatest.

Referring again to FIG. 3, I and Q decision circuits 520 and 522determine the transmit phase of the received signal and reconstruct thetransmit data, i.e. the binary data represented by the phase of thesignal. The reconstructed binary data output from the decision circuits520 and 522 is then combined into a single serial stream of binary databy the parallel-to-serial converter 524.

In most transmission systems, including DCT systems, communicationbetween a receiving unit and a transmitting unit requires burstsynchronization. Such synchronization is typically accomplished byproviding the demodulated binary data to a correlator which detects aknown pattern, such as a predefined preamble. Detection of the preambleor other known pattern allows the demodulator to synchronize its timingwith the received PSK signal so that the demodulator can decode thereceived symbols.

It is well known to fine tune the demodulator's timing to the receivedsymbols during operation in a continuous mode to optimize systemperformance and reduce error. Such fine tuning may be provided by thesymbol timing recovery circuit 508 shown in FIG. 3. A typical symboltiming recovery circuit would determine within which time intervals themaximum amount of energy is received. Those intervals should correspondto the symbol intervals of the received signal. Thus the symbol timingrecovery circuit 508 causes the decision circuits 520 and 522 todetermine the phase of the received signal so that the decisioncorresponds to only a single symbol.

It has been found that the analog demodulator of FIG. 3 can besimplified by digitizing the integration and decision functions. FIG. 5is a block diagram of such a digital demodulator.

After demodulating the received signal using mixer 530, the PSK signalis sampled at a frequency greater than twice the Nyquist frequency,where the Nyquist rate is the highest frequency of the down convertedPSK signal. It has been found that by determining the zero-crossings ofthe signal with respect to time and referencing the zero-crossing to areference transmit phase, the phase of the received signal can bedetermined. Waveform digitizer 532 samples the down converter signalrepresented in FIG. 5 generally at 536. The zero-crossing digital signalprocessor (DSP) 534 estimates the zero-crossings of the sampled waveformand then compares them to those of each of the possible transmitwaveforms to determine the phase of the received signal.

However, this technique can become quite complicated due to theiterative curve fitting for trigometric functions which is necessary todetermine the phase of the received signal. Furthermore, noise,intersymbol interference, and timing misalignment degrade the receivedsignal so that only a best curve rather than an exact curve can beidentified.

To avoid these problems, a phase progression digitizing technique hasbeen suggested. This technique bypasses the waveform digitizer 532 andthe complicated zero-crossing DSP 534 by directly digitizing the signalphase. This technique uses a counter to count each cycle of the receivedPSK signal, either on up-crossings or on down-crossings. A fixed samplerate is selected to be at least equal to the Nyquist rate of themodulation, i.e. at least twice the symbol rate. Optimally a number ofcycles will occur between samples. The samples mark events, i.e., anup-crossing or down-crossing, in time. Thus the phase of the receivedsignal is determined by comparing the time of the events occurring ineach symbol period.

For example, consider the phase progression plot shown in FIG. 6. Thephase progression plot plots the events as a function of time. The PSKsignal is shown below the plot. The samples or events are enumerated aswell as the time of each event. The curve fit for determining the phaseof each symbol becomes a system of parallel lines where each linecorresponds to one of the possible transmit phases. Using this techniqueall amplitude information is discarded and trigometric curve fitting canbe avoided.

Unfortunately, this technique has several limitations as well. Inparticular, the sampling frequency in such a scheme is critically linkedto the signal frequency in that a sample must occur on either upwardzero-crossings or downward zero-crossings. Thus, whenever the signalundergoes frequency drift, which is well know to occur in communicationsystems, or frequency changes for other reasons, the sample rate willrequire constant adjustment to track such frequency changes.

Accordingly, a need still exists for a digital demodulator which candetect the phase of the received signal regardless of frequency changesand drift of the received PSK signal, which is relatively inexpensiveand simple to implement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention fulfills this need by providing a digitaldemodulator and a method for demodulating digital data. According to thepresent invention, the digital demodulator comprises a phase detectorwhich accepts an input of digital data formed by sampling a receivedanalog PSK signal and converts the digital data into phase estimatesbased on transitions in the digital data. The phase estimates are thenconverted to phase data indicative of the transmitted information by adata decoder.

In a preferred embodiment the digital data is grouped into overlappingwindows of data. The digital demodulator according to this preferredembodiment comprises a unique word detector, a timing recoverycontroller, and a frequency controller. The decoded data is output tothe unique word detector which correlates the decoded data with apredefined unique word. When the unique word has been detected, theunique word detector outputs a signal indicating within which of theoverlapping windows the unique word had been detected.

The frequency controller monitors the phase estimates provided by thedata decoder and compares them with the closest of the possible transmitphases to determine a phase error. Since a change in phase error over asymbol interval is indicative of frequency drift, the frequencycontroller determines a frequency offset from time to time to track thefrequency of the received PSK signal.

The timing recovery controller uses the frequency offset to adjust thephase error determined after each symbol period. If the symbol timing ofthe demodulator was synchronized with the timing of the receivedsymbols, the phase error would approach zero. When the phase error,however, is greater than some predetermined threshold, the timing of thedemodulator must be advanced or delayed to synchronize with the timingof the received symbols. The timing recovery controller comprises earlyand late counters for maintaining a count related to the phase error inan early window and a late window respectively. When the phase error inthe early counter is greater than the phase error in the late counterthe timing of the demodulator is advanced and when the phase error inthe late counter is greater than the phase error in the early counterthe timing of the demodulator is delayed.

In a further preferred embodiment, the phase detector comprises aninstantaneous phase decoder, instantaneous phase estimator, and adifferential decoder if the transmitted signals are differentiallyencoded. The instantaneous phase decoder identifies when transitionsoccur in the digital data. The instantaneous phase estimator estimates,based on when the transitions occur, the instantaneous phase of thereceived signal and averages a number of instantaneous phase estimatestogether. The differential decoder computes the phase difference betweenconsecutively received symbols based on the phase estimatescorresponding to windows having the same timing.

In still another preferred embodiment, the digital data is formed bylimiting the received analog signal and sampling the limited signalthereby removing substantially all amplitude characteristics from thereceived PSK signal prior to demodulation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be better understood, and its numerousobjects and advantages will become apparent by reference to thefollowing detailed description of the invention when taken inconjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 graphically represents a PRK waveform;

FIGS. 2A-2d show a phaser diagram of a QPSK signal;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a QPSK demodulator according the prior art;

FIG. 4 shows energy detection envelopes of QPSK symbols;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a prior art digital PSK demodulator;

FIG. 6 is a phase progression plot of a PSK waveform;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a digital demodulator according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 shows the signal input to and signal output from a limiteramplifier;

FIG. 9 is an example of a window/symbol timing using four windows persymbol period;

FIG. 10 is a timing diagram showing a desired timing adjustment for finetuning demodulator synchronization;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a phase detectoraccording to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of an instantaneousphase decoder;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of an instantaneousphase estimator according to the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a differentialphase detector according to the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a preferred implementation of theinstantaneous phase estimator, differential detector and data decoderaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 16 graphically depicts a symbol phase shift of nearly 360° withreference to a synchronizing window according to the present invention;

FIG. 17 shows an exemplary sequence of digital data and denotestransitions occurring within that sequence;

FIG. 18 graphically depicts quadrant and octant mapping for a π/4 QPSKsignal according to the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of an automaticfrequency controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a preferred implementation of theautomatic frequency controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of an automatictiming recovery controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 22A is a flowchart of the AFC and ATRC software routine accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 22B is a flowchart of the ATRC software routine according to thepresent invention; and

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a unique worddetector according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a portion of a radio frequency (RF)receiver/signal processor, generally designated 20, including a digitaldemodulator constructed in accordance with the present invention. Such areceiver has the advantages of low cost, low complexity and low powerconsumption. The overall function of the receiver is to recover digitaldata from an analog input signal (IF IN) and pass such digital data to acentral processor 22. IF IN, in the preferred embodiment, is a π/4differential coded quaternary phase shift keyed (DQPSK) signal in analogform. IF IN is an analog transmission representative of various phaserepresented symbols. IF IN is transmitted at a given symbol rate. Eachphase symbol is representative of a set of digital data, i.e., aparticular bit sequence. Although the arrangement shown in FIG. 7 is acombination analog/digital device, it is susceptible to an integratedcircuit implementation.

Receiver 20 is shown to generally include a down converter module 24, alimiter module 26 and a demodulator module 28. Down converter 24 servesto down convert IF IN from a received frequency of approximately 250 MHzto a low IF signal of approximately 1.152 MHz. Limiter 26 serves to bothlimit the low IF signal or down converted signal and sample the signalat a sample rate which is at least the Nyquist rate of the downconverted signal.

Demodulator module 28 recovers a differential phase signal from thesamples generated by limiter 26. Such recovery occurs by removingfrequency and phase error to optimize the detection of phase informationfrom the differential phase signal. Once differential phase informationis recovered from the down converted signal, phase symbols can bedetermined and converted into actual digital data output to processor22.

Down converter module 24 is shown to include bandpass filters 30, 32 and34 and mixers 36 and 38. Filter 30 eliminates out-of-band signals,including spurious mixing images and other channel transmissions, ifany, reduces noise, and shapes the desired signal. Filter 30 exhibits aresponse roughly approximating an optimal "matched" filter to a filterused prior to transmission.

It will be appreciated that the down conversion of IF IN is achieved bypassing the signal through mixers 36 and 38. Although the actualfrequencies selected for the first and second signals applied to mixers36 and 38, respectively, can be any frequency which will achieve thenecessary down conversion, certain frequencies are preferred because oftheir non-interference characteristics. A more detailed explanation ofthe frequencies selected and the considerations relating to suchselection may be found in copending application Ser. No. 08/013,625,filed Feb. 4, 1993. In the preferred embodiment mixer 36 down convertsIF IN to approximately 10.7 MHz.

Filter 32 generally performs the same function as filter 30, namelyimage rejection, noise rejection and signal shaping. Mixer 38 providesthe final down conversion of IF IN to approximately 1.152 MHz. Filter 34is a discrete inductor-capacitor (LC) filter which primarily eliminatesmixing products occurring during the down conversion process.

The primary function of limiter 26 is to convert the down converted andfiltered IF IN analog signal, output from filter 34, into a digitalsignal without the use of an analog-to-digital converter. The digitalsignal generated by limiter 26 is thereafter provided to demodulatormodule 28 for further processing.

As shown in FIG. 7, limiter 26 includes amplifier 40 and sampler 42. Ina preferred embodiment amplifier 40 is a high gain amplifier such thatany positive input will generate an output having an upper limit, andany negative input will generate an output having a lower limit.Amplifier 40 converts the down converted signal to a discrete signalhaving a value of A for all positive analog input and a value of B forall negative analog input. An example of the output of amplifier 40 isshown in FIG. 8.

Sampler 42 samples the discrete signal output from amplifier 40 therebyproviding a digital output signal. Preferably, the sample rate and theperiod of IF IN in limiter 26 are relatively prime integral digitalmultiples of the symbol period. It is also preferred for the sample rateto be relatively close to the frequency of IF IN at this point,(although the sampling rate must be at least the Nyquist rate of thedown converted signal). In a preferred embodiment the sampling rate isapproximately 19.2 MHz. It is noted that the digital signal generated bylimiter 26 does not contain any information pertaining to the amplitudeof the IF IN signal (i.e., the magnitude of the received DQPSK signal).Since the digital output represents when down converted signaltransitions from positive to negative and negative to positive (zerocrossing), information related to the phase and frequency of the downconverted signal can be determined by demodulator 28, thereby permittingrecovery of the originally transmitted phase symbols which in turnpermits recovery of the original digital data.

As shown in FIG. 7, demodulator 28 includes phase detector 44, automaticfrequency controller (AFC) 46, automatic timing recovery controller(ATRC) 48, data decoder 50, unique word detector 52, and interfacecontroller 54. Processor 22 is coupled to demodulator module 28 via theinterface controller 54.

Phase detector 44 analyzes the digital signal output from limiter 26 togenerate estimates of the instantaneous phase of IF IN during one ormore time intervals. The time intervals are optimally synchronized withthe symbol intervals of the received PSK signal where the symbol rate ispreferably 192 Ksps (thousands of symbols per second). AFC 46 functionsto generate frequency data based on the instantaneous phase estimates,which frequency data is provided to processor 22 via data bus 56. Thefrequency data is used by processor 22 to determine the frequencyoffset, i.e., the frequency error of IF IN, and correct the phase of theinstantaneous phase estimates generated by phase detector 44. Correctionof the phase estimates by processor 22 is based on the frequency offset.

Corrected phase estimates generated by processor 22 are provided as aninput to ATRC 48 and data decoder 50. Data decoder 50 converts correctphase information into symbols representing the bit sequence of thetransmitted digital data and provides a binary output to unique worddetector 52. In a preferred embodiment, demodulator 28 is capable ofoperating in at least two modes, a burst mode and a continuous mode. Insuch an embodiment, phase detector 44 provides phase estimates at Ntimes the symbol rate, where N is an integer 1, 2, 3, . . . Phasedetector 44 provides a phase estimate over a predetermined number ofsamples, defining a "window," where N different windows occur at thesymbol rate, i.e., within a symbol period or interval. It is especiallypreferred for phase detector 44 to define N overlapping windows for eachsymbol interval. In such an embodiment, detector 44 computes an averagephase for each window resulting in the provision of N average phaseestimates per symbol period.

FIG. 9 graphically depicts the overlapping windows per symbol intervalconcept. In this depiction four windows have been defined per symbolinterval. Each window has a duration of 1/2 symbol interval.Consequently a phase estimate is computed every 1/4 of a symbolinterval. Four symbol intervals are shown, t₀ to t₁, t₁ to t₂, t₂ to t₃,and t₃ to t₄. One symbol .o slashed.₀, .o slashed.₁ , .o slashed.₂ or .oslashed.₃ is transmitted during each symbol interval, respectively. Setsof windows W_(A), W_(B), W_(C) and W_(D) are shown overlapping(hereinafter reference to a set of windows means, all the windows havingthe timing of one of the windows W_(A), W_(B), W_(C) or W_(D).

To synchronize timing of demodulator 28 with IF IN, the received signal,demodulator 28 determines which of the N windows in each symbol intervalis most centrally positioned, i.e., W_(A) in FIG. 9. This window isreferred to as the synchronizing window. In the burst mode, unique worddetector 52 detects the most centered of the N windows and timingadjustment are made in relation to the selected window. In thecontinuous mode, the timing and frequency data generated by ATRC 48 andthe AFC 46 are used to adjust the phase error and adjust the timing,i.e. the timing and frequency data are used to make adjustments to thesynchronizing window by delaying or advancing the samples of thatwindow.

FIG. 10 depicts synchronization in the continuous mode. Window W_(A) isshown to be nearly centered in a given symbol interval. This windowwould be selected as the synchronizing window, however, since it isdesirable to center the synchronizing window, fine adjustments are made.Centering the synchronizing window has the advantage of eliminatingintersymbol interference. To substantially center window W_(A) it mustbe delayed 2 samples as shown by the dashed line W_(A').

It will be appreciated from the above that the data format employed inIF IN will preferably utilize a unique word or preamble prior to anydata fields. In the data recovery process of demodulator 28, the uniqueword or preamble utilized will be stored in processor 22. This uniqueword will be provided by processor 22 to unique word detector 52. Datadecoder 50 accumulates a predetermined number of bits corresponding tothe unique word and provides this accumulation of bits to unique worddetector 52. Unique word detector 52 then correlates the accumulatedsequence of bits to the unique word. Based on the results of thecorrelation, unique word detector 52 will transmit a detect signal toprocessor 22 and identify the synchronizing windows.

The ATRC 48 uses the corrected phase estimates from the AFC 46 togenerate timing data and provides this timing data to the processor 22.The processor 22 uses the timing data to adjust the timing of the phaseestimates provided by the phase detector 44 by delaying or advancing thedigital samples with respect to the phase estimates, i.e., advancing ordelaying the synchronizing window.

Consider now the components of demodulator 28 in greater detail. It willbe recalled that the digital signal generated by the limiter 26, i.e. asignal composed of two values either level A or level B, is provided tophase detector 44. A preferred embodiment of phase detector 44 is shownin FIG. 11. Phase detector 44 comprises an instantaneous phase decoder58 and an instantaneous phase estimator 60. If differentially codedphase shift keying (DPSK) is used for generating the transmit signal,phase detector 44 should also include a differential detector 62.

Phase decoder 58 receives an input of digital samples from limitermodule 26 in FIG. 7 and compares each digital sample with the mostprevious sample. For example, assume that the value A is "1" and thevalue "B" is "0". The input to the phase decoder 58 will be a sequenceof "1"s and "0"s. Since there are only two possible values for theinput, there can be only four possible combinations of consecutivedigital data (i.e., 00, 01, 10, 11). Phase decoder 58 functions toprovide an output indicative of whether there is a change in theconsecutive values of the signal received from limiter 26 and if achange has occurred to identify that change in the data. In a preferredembodiment, phase decoder 58 operates according to the truth tablelisted in Table 1, below.

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                                input                                                                              output                                                           ______________________________________                                                00   0                                                                        01   +1                                                                       10   -1                                                                       11   0                                                                ______________________________________                                    

It should be readily understood that other decoding schemes could beused to provide the same information.

A preferred embodiment of the instantaneous phase decoder 58 is shown inFIG. 12. A sample delay 64, which could comprise a simple register orbuffer, serves to store each sample until the next sample is receivedfrom the limiter module. When the next sample is received the value ofthe stored sample is subtracted from the value of the next sample bysubtractor 66. Thus when consecutive samples are the same, the decodedoutput is a "0". When the next sample changes from low to high thedecoded output is a "+1" and from high to low the decoded output is a"-1" as indicated in Table 1.

In a preferred embodiment, the output of decoder 58 will comprise twobits, B₀ and B₁ representative of the information shown in Table 2.Thus, B₀ will indicate whether a transition occurred between the twomost previous samples and B₁ will indicate what the transition was ifone occurred.

                  TABLE 2                                                         ______________________________________                                        Bit    Digital Value      Explanation                                         ______________________________________                                        B.sub.0                                                                              1                  transition                                          B.sub.0                                                                              0                  no transition                                       B.sub.1                                                                              1                  low to high                                         B.sub.1                                                                              0                  high to low                                         ______________________________________                                    

Instantaneous phase estimator 60 uses the output of phase decoder 58 todetermine the instantaneous phase of the received signal. FIG. 13 is afunctional block diagram of the instantaneous phase estimator 60. Theoutput of phase decoder 58 is processed by first determining theabsolute value which is extracted at ABS block 68. When the decodedoutput indicates that there has been a transition, i.e. B₀ =1, block 70provides an output of "0" when the edge is rising, i.e., B₁ =1, andprovides an output of "π" when the edge is falling, i.e., B₁ =0.

As described above, traditional PSK demodulators will detectzero-crossings of the received PSK signal and determine whether thesignal is rising or falling at each zero-crossing. The zero-crossinglocations are compared with those of a reference signal having the samefrequency as the received PSK signal. To eliminate the use of areference signal and the associated complex and costly hardware requiredto produce the signal, a phase ramp generator 72 is used to provide aninstantaneous phase estimate as a function of time.

Phase ramp generator 72 provides a ramp signal having a periodequivalent to the length of the window interval. For each set ofconsecutive samples, the output of block 70 , i.e., the value "0" or"π", is added to the current value of the ramp signal by adder 72depending upon whether the edge of the limiter signal is rising orfalling, respectively. The resulting sum is the instantaneous phaseestimate. When a transition occurs between two consecutive samples, ABSblock 68 provides an output of "1". When there is no transition betweentwo consecutive samples, i.e. B₀ =0, ABS block 68 provides a "0". Theoutput of ABS block 68 is multiplied in multiplier 74 by the output ofadder 73, i.e., the instantaneous phase estimate. In this manner, theoutput from the phase estimator is effectively cancelled when there hasbeen no transition.

Each instantaneous phase estimate is provided from multiplier 74 toaverager 76. Averager 76 has a timing input 78, SYMBOL TIMING signal,which is used by averager 76 to accumulate the instantaneous phaseestimates over each predetermined window interval and provide anaveraged phase estimate for each window interval. The SYMBOL TIMINGsignal 78 is generated by processor 22 and provides a signal having aclock rate equal to the symbol rate.

If the transmitted signal is differentially encoded, then phase detector44 will preferably include a differential detector 62. A block diagramof differential detector 62 is shown in FIG. 14. It is assumed that fouroverlapping windows are used per symbol period or interval as shown inFIG. 9. Each average phase estimate output from averager 76 issubtracted from the 4th subsequent average phase estimate by subtractor80 to determine the average differential phase shift from consecutivecorresponding windows.

In other words, an average phase estimate is determined over each of thewindows W_(A), W_(B), W_(C), and W_(D) during each symbol interval. Theaverage phase estimate generated for window W_(A) during the timeinterval t₀ to t₁ is delayed by symbol delay block 82 shown in FIG. 14until the average phase estimate generated during the interval t₁ to t₂is provided by averager 76. The average phase estimate from the intervalt₀ to t₂ is then subtracted from the average estimate from interval t₁to t₂ by subtractor 80, resulting in an average differential phasebetween the symbols .o slashed.₀ and .o slashed.₁. The symbol delayblock 82, therefore, must store the averaged estimates, for example in aseries of storage registers, for each of the 4 windows and provide anoutput for each averaged estimate so that it is subtracted with the nextaverage estimate of the corresponding window, i.e., in this example thesubsequent 4th window.

Since in QPSK, the symbols are selected such that one symbol correspondsto a phase between 0° and 90°, a second corresponds to a phase between90° and 180°, a third corresponds to a phase between 180° and 270°, andthe fourth corresponds to a phase between 270° and 360°, theinstantaneous phase estimator 60, differential detector 62 and datadecoder 50 are preferably implemented as shown in FIG. 15.

Phase counter 84 is initialized to zero substantially at the beginningof each window period by a window start signal, i.e., counter 84repetitively counts over each quarter symbol interval. Phase counter 84is incremented on each clock signal f_(s) which corresponds preferablyto the sampling rate of limiter 26.

Processor 86 is adapted to function as an edge counter for counting outfive edges. While the edge count is less than or equal to five,processor 86 provides a logic high output to AND gate 88. Each time atransition is detected, i.e., B₀ =1, the output of the AND gate 88 willbecome logic high thereby enabling accumulator 90. When the edge countexceeds five, the output of processor 86 to AND gate 88 will becomelogic low thereby disabling accumulator 90. Accordingly, each time anedge is detected as indicated by the DETECT signal, i.e., bit B₀ ofoutput of phase decoder 58, accumulator 90 inputs the current value ofthe phase counter 84 and accumulates these values until five edges havebeen detected by processor 86, whereupon accumulator 90 is disabled.

It is noted that if the frequency of the baseband signal was such thatonly five transitions could occur during one fourth of a windowinterval, processor 86 and gate 88 would not be required toenable/disable accumulator 90 because the contents of the accumulatorcould be output at the beginning of each quarter symbol interval.

The accumulated counter values are preferably output to delay member 92and to adder 94. The accumulation of counter values for every twoconsecutive 1/4 symbol periods are added by adder 94 resulting in aphase value for each window.

When DPSK is used, each phase value is subtracted from the next phasevalue corresponding to the same window (e.g., W_(A), W_(B), W_(C) orW_(D)). Accordingly, the difference between any two phase values shouldnot exceed a number corresponding to 360°. Such an operation iseffectively achieved by differential decoder 96 and format converter 98.Differential decoder 96 generates an average differential estimate andformat converter 98 converts the average differential estimates into adata format representative of the quadrant of the differential phase,the sign of any error and the amount of any error. In order to morefully appreciate the operation of differential decoder 96 and converter98, certain phase shift events associated with demodulator 28 need beconsidered.

The range of accumulator 90 for a full 360° phase shift was computed byexamining the maximum difference in accumulations that result in thesame phase estimate. As shown by the top waveform in FIG. 16, a firstdetected edge rises exactly on count zero of the given window period.This particular detection will provide an accumulation sum of eighty two(0+8+16+25+33 provided by counter 84) in accumulator 90. If the risingedge occurs an infinitesimal time before count zero, as shown in thelower waveform, the first detected edge falls on count 8 of counter 84and gives an accumulation sum of one hundred twenty three(8+16+25+33+42). To make these accumulation sums equal, an offset offorty two (42) needs to be added to the first sum. In the context of thepreferred embodiment, such an offset corresponds to adding a phase shiftof π radians. Therefore, a 2π or 360° phase shift is eighty four (84)counts apart. Consequently, the accumulated counter values inaccumulator 90 can be used to generate information indicating what phasequadrant the received PSK signal falls within and the amount of error,if any, associated with the received PSK signal.

For example, consider the sequence of digital data shown in FIG. 17 andassume that counter 84 is counting at the sampling rate of sampler 42,i.e., the pulse rate of clock f_(s) equals the sampling rate. If thisdata is output from limiter module 26 and the first bit corresponds to awindow boundary, five transitions occur at counter values of 3, 11, 20,28, and 36, respectively. The sum of these five numbers is ninety eight(98). Assume that this data corresponds to the symbol .o slashed.₁ andthe timing of window W_(A) in FIG. 9 and that the same data would resultduring the next 1/4 symbol interval (i.e., the first half of W_(C)). Inview of these assumptions, adder 94 would then add together theaccumulated counter values for both 1/4 symbol intervals to arrive at anaverage phase estimate of one hundred and ninety six (196).

Differential decoder 96 (FIG. 15) would then subtract one hundred ninetysix (196) from the average phase estimate of previous symbol .oslashed.₀ corresponding to the timing of W_(A). If the average phaseestimate for .o slashed.₀ corresponding to W_(A) was two hundred eighty(280), then the difference between symbols .o slashed.₀ and .o slashed.₁would be eighty four or 2π. Since the sampling rate of sampler 42 ispreferably 19.2 Mhz, there are approximately 16.67 samples per cycle ofa 1.152 Mhz baseband data signal and since accumulator 90 is disabledevery five (5) transitions, ten (10) transitions (5 from each halfwindow) would require approximately eighty four (84) samples. Thus phasecounter 84 must be incremented from 0 to 41 each half window period.

Since each average phase estimate is subtracted from the most previousaverage phase estimate corresponding to the same set of windows, itshould not be necessary to add π for each falling edge, i.e. when B₁ is0, as described previously. If the first edge is rising, then thesequence of edges will be rising, falling, rising, falling, rising.Theoretically, π should be added only two times, once for each fallingedge. If the first edge is falling, then the sequence of five edges willbe falling, rising, falling, rising, falling, and 3π should be added tothe accumulated counter values. Since these are the only scenarios forfive consecutive edges, at least 2π will be cancelled when oneaccumulated value is subtracted from a previous one by differentialdecoder 96. Consequently, it is not necessary to add π for each fallingedge.

However, where one accumulated counter value corresponds to a transitionsequence having a falling first edge first and the other accumulatedcounter value corresponds to a transition sequence having a rising firstedge, the difference between the two accumulated counter values willcontain a constant bias of π. Thus, in a preferred implementation, avalue of forty two (42), corresponding to π, is added to the averagephase estimate, if the corresponding transition sequence begins with afalling edge. This feature, may be implemented as shown in FIG. 15, byprocessor 86 providing an output of forty two (42) to adder 94 in theevent that the first detected transition is a falling edge.

The difference between average phase estimates corresponding toconsecutive windows in a set of windows is used to determine the phasequadrant of the PSK signal from one symbol to the next. The quadrantsmay be defined according to Table 3 below.

                  TABLE 3                                                         ______________________________________                                        Diff φ.sub.n+1  - φ.sub.n                                                             Quadrant #                                                                              Symbol                                              ______________________________________                                         0-20           1         00                                                  21-41           2         01                                                  42-62           3         11                                                  63-83           4         10                                                  ______________________________________                                    

Therefore, if the difference between the average phase estimates forsymbols .o slashed.₁ and .o slashed.₀ corresponding to window W_(A) istwenty four (24), then the average differential phase represented by .oslashed.₁ would be in the second quadrant, i.e. the bit sequence "01".

In a further preferred embodiment, the phase of the transmitted signalis centrally positioned in each quadrant, i.e., at 10, 31, 52 and 73.Thus a differential phase of twenty four (24) is seven (7) below thesecond quadrant phase value. In this embodiment format converter 98 canconvert the average differential estimates into a data formatrepresentative of the quadrant of the differential phase, the sign ofthe error and the amount of the error.

The quadrant and octant (i.e. sign of the error) are depictedgraphically in FIG. 18. The quadrants have been subdivided into octants.For example, where the average differential phase estimate is twentyfour (24) as in the example described above, the output of formatconverter 98 would be 0110111. The first two bits "01" indicating thesecond quadrant. The third bit "1" indicates that the error is withinthe first octant of the second quadrant as shown in FIG. 18 and the fourremaining bits "0111" indicate that the error is seven (7) orapproximately 30°. In the preferred embodiment, each count representsapproximately 4.3°.

In a further preferred embodiment processor 86 computes the differencebetween the counter values corresponding to the third and fourthdetected edges. The computed difference and the counter valuecorresponding to the fourth edge are stored in the memory of processor86. If a fifth edge is not detected by the edge counter portion ofprocessor 86 at or before count eighty four (84), the computeddifference is added to the fourth counter value and this interpolatedvalue is provided to adder 94. Therefore, if the fifth edge is notdetected, then the phase estimator can interpolate for that edge togenerate an average phase estimate.

As indicated in FIG. 7 the average phase estimate or averagedifferential phase estimates are output from the phase detector 44 toAFC 46. A detailed block diagram of AFC 46 is shown in FIG. 19. AFC 46includes both hardware designated generally as 100 and softwaredesignated generally as 102. Preferably, AFC software 102 will reside inprocessor 22. As described previously, the frequency data generated byAFC 46 is processed by and stored in processor 22 during each timeperiod when the receiver 20 is operating in a continuous mode and afterthe unique word has been detected. Processor 22 uses this data todetermine the frequency error (frequency offset) of the output oflimiter module 26 during each window interval.

The frequency offset is stored by AFC software 102 at correctionfrequency store 104 and is added by adder 106 to each average ordifferential phase estimate provided by phase detector 44. This additionresults in a corrected phase and will be described in more detail below.The corrected phase is provided as an input to ATRC 48 and data decoder50.

The corrected phase is also provided to phase error detection circuit108. A symbol timing input is provided by processor 22 to phase errordetection circuit 108. The symbol timing is used to select thosecorrected phase inputs that correspond to the synchronizing windowidentified by unique word detector 52 after detecting the unique word,e.g. those corrected phase inputs corresponding to window W_(A).

Phase error detector 108 stores the corrected phase of the selectedwindow and compares each phase to the possible transmitted symbols. Forinstance in a π/4 QPSK modulation system, the set of transmitted symbolsmay include 45°, 135°, 225°, and 315°. Thus if the corrected phase ofthe selected window is 35°, phase error detector 108 would identify the45° transmit phase as the closest phase and calculate the difference tobe -10°.

Positive and negative threshold detectors 110 and 112 determine whetherthe calculated difference between the corrected phase and the selectedtransmit phase is greater than a predetermined positive threshold orless than a predetermined negative threshold, respectively. In thepreferred embodiment, the threshold for each detector 110 and 112 is 2and -2, respectively and correspond to roughly ±8.6°. If the phase erroris greater than the positive threshold, then positive counter 114 isincremented. If the phase error is less than the negative threshold,then the negative counter 116 is incremented. At the end of each slot,(in the preferred embodiment each burst includes five (5) slots) thecontents of counters 114 and 116 are output to AFC software 102 forprocessing.

Since frequency is related to phase by the following relationship:

    f(t)=d.o slashed.(t)/dt                                    (8)

where f(t) is a function of the frequency of the PSK signal and .oslashed.(t) is a function of the phase of the PSK signal. Then thefrequency error can be determined by the following equation: ##EQU2##where t_(n+1) -t_(n) is the slot period, Δf is the frequency offsetduring that interval, and .o slashed._(e) (t_(n)) is the phase error atthose respective times. Therefore, the frequency offset of the receivedsignal can be easily calculated at the end of each slot by subtractingthe negative phase error maintained by negative counter 116 from thepositive phase error maintained by positive counter 114. If thefrequency remained constant, as it would in an ideal world, the phaseerror of the signal during the slot period should remain constant.Therefore .o slashed._(e) (t_(n+1))-.o slashed.(t_(n))=0. Since thefrequency does drift due to noise and other factors Δf represents theaverage offset frequency over each slot interval.

At the end of each slot frequency accumulator 118 is updated withcumulative phase error determined in subtractor 120 (i.e., the value ofthe positive counter 85 minus the value of the negative counter 86). Theupdated accumulated phase error is then compared to a predeterminedthreshold at 122. However, it is not necessary to make such a comparisonafter each slot, rather the cumulative phase error from several slotsmay be accumulated prior to comparing the value to the threshold. If theaccumulated phase error is larger than the threshold, a new offsetfrequency is generated at 104 and stored by processor 22. The new offsetfrequency is then used to correct the phase error of the phase estimatesinput to AFC 46. The sum of counters 114 and 116 is proportional to thevariance of the phase. Consequently, this sum is useful as a lockindicator and a signal quality estimator. This sum is generated by adder124 and passed through exponential filter 126. The output of filter 126can be used as an estimate of the long term signal quality.

In an especially preferred embodiment, AFC hardware 100 (excluding adder106 and phase error detector 108) is implemented according to the blockdiagram shown in FIG. 20. Corrected phase error bits output from phaseerror detector 108 are provided as an input to threshold detector 130.Preferably, the threshold is set at two (2). If the phase error isgreater than two, threshold detector 130 outputs a logic high signal andif the phase error is less than two threshold detector 130 outputs alogic low signal. The bit (the 3rd bit output by format converter 98)indicating which octant of the identified quadrant the error fallswithin is input to AND gates 132 and 134. When the phase error exceedsthe threshold and the phase error was in the first octant, i.e. sign bitis a "1", then the output of the AND gate 132 will increment latecounter 136. However, when the phase error is in the second octant, i.e.sign bit="0", it is inverted at input 138 to AND gate 134. AND gate 134thereafter provides an output to increment the early counter 140.

As indicated previously, a corrected phase is output from AFC 46 to ATRC48 corresponding to each window interval. A functional block diagram ofATRC 48 is shown in FIG. 21. ATRC 48 is shown to include hardware 142and software 144. Since ATRC 48 begins tracking the timing after theunique word has been detected, a window before the synchronizing windowand a window after the synchronizing window can be identified.

The corrected phase from one window before the synchronizing window isinput to the absolute (ABS) early error detector 146 and the correctedphase from one window following the synchronizing window is input to theABS late error detector 148. The ABS early error detector 146 and theABS late error detector 148 preferably latch onto the corrected phaseand determine based on its value which of the possible transmittedphases is closest to the value. The difference between the closesttransmit phase and the corrected phase value defines either the early orlate error.

Since the synchronized window is optimally centered within a symbolinterval to minimize error associated with detecting, demodulating, anddecoding of the data transmitted, the early error and the late error areoptimally equal, i.e. indicating that the synchronized window isproperly centered within the symbol interval. Therefore, the early erroris subtracted by subtractor 150 from the late error to provide a windowoffset error of the synchronized window. The window offset error iscompared to a positive and negative threshold by positive thresholddetector 152 and by negative threshold detector 154. If the windowoffset error is greater than the positive threshold, then positivethreshold detector 152 increments early counter 156. If the windowoffset error is less than the negative threshold then negative thresholddetector 154 increments late counter 158.

When all of the data has been received during a slot, early counter 156and late counter 158 output the current values of their respectivecounters to ATRC software 144. The value of the late counter issubtracted from the value of the early counter by subtractor 160 and theresulting difference is provided to timing accumulator 162. Timingaccumulator 162 during several slots of data provides the window timingerror accumulated therein to the threshold comparator 164. Thresholdcomparator 164 compares the window timing error to a predeterminedthreshold. If the window timing error is greater than the threshold,ATRC software 144 computes a number of samples by which to adjust thewindow timing to more accurately center the synchronizing window.

For example referring to the window symbol timing diagram shown in FIG.10, assume that W_(A) is the synchronizing window. ATRC 48 woulddetermine that W_(A) is two samples late and would provide a timingadjust signal causing the phase detector 44 to delay the window timingby two samples.

The sum of counters 156 and 158 is also proportional to the variance ofthe phase. Consequently, this sum is useful as a lock indicator and asignal quality estimator. This sum is generated by adder 166 and passedthrough exponential filter 168. The output of filter 168 can be used asan estimate of the long term signal quality.

The AFC software 102 and ATRC software 144 are implemented according tothe flowchart shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B. General purpose processor 22in FIG. 7 is preferably coupled to the receiver to receive inputsindicative of when a burst is received as shown at 202 (note interfaceis not shown in FIG. 7). Processor 22, then waits for the end of theburst as shown at 204. The end of the burst could be determined byinterrupt or other signal provided by the receiver to processor 22, orwhere each burst lasts for a known duration, calculating the time atwhich the burst would end based on the time it began and the knownduration.

Following the reception of a burst in the continuous mode, processor 22reads the AFC counters and the ATRC counters as shown at 206. Thefrequency offset over the burst is calculated at 208 by subtracting thevalues stored in the AFC positive counter from the value stored in thenegative counter. The frequency difference is then added to anaccumulated frequency difference, if any, at 210. The accumulatedfrequency difference is compared to a threshold, which is preferably setat 10, as shown at 212. If the absolute value of the accumulatedfrequency difference is greater than the threshold at 212, then AFCsoftware determines whether the accumulated difference is positive ornegative at 214. If it is positive then the frequency offset isincremented by 1 sample. Since in a preferred embodiment the sample rateis 19.2 MHz and the number of samples per symbol interval is 84, a 1sample increment would be equivalent to a frequency adjustment of 2.285KHz (19.2 MHz/84). If the accumulated difference is negative thefrequency offset is decremented by 1 sample or 2.285 KHz in a preferredembodiment. After the frequency offset is adjusted at either 216 or 218,the accumulated frequency difference is cleared to zero at 220. Thefrequency offset is then output from the processor 22 to the AFC andATRC hardware as described above.

The ATRC software is executed according to steps 224 to 238 in FIG. 22B.The timing offset is determined at 224 by subtracting the ATRC earlycounter from the ATRC late counter. The timing offset for each burst isthen accumulated at 226. The absolute value of the accumulated timingoffset is compared to a predetermined threshold at 228, which ispreferably set to 4. If the absolute value of the accumulated timingoffset is greater than 4, then the window synchronization requires anadjustment. This adjustment is implemented by processor 22 byincrementing the processor's bit timing mechanism thereby delaying theSYMBOL TIMING signal output from processor 22 whenever the accumulatedtiming offset is positive (shown in FIG. 22B at 230 and 234). Similarlyif the accumulated timing offset is negative, the processor's bit timingclock is decremented (shown at 230 and 232) to advance the SYMBOL TIMINGsignal output from processor 22. After an adjustment to the bit timingclock has been implemented, the accumulated timing offset is cleared at236.

The adjustment to the processor's bit timing clock is output from theATRC software after each burst. If no adjustment is required asdetermined at 228, a zero is output at 238. If the bit timing is to beincremented or decremented as determined at 230 through 234, theappropriate adjustment is output at 238.

As indicated previously, data detector 50 converts the corrected phaseinto its corresponding binary symbol representation. Before asynchronizing window has been identified, a number of symbols areaccumulated to form a sequence of binary data to be compared to theunique word by unique word detector 52. Since the symbol boundaries arenot known a priori, sequences must be generated corresponding to each ofthe windows. For example, referring to FIG. 9, if .o slashed.₀ =π/4, .oslashed.₁ =-π/4, .o slashed.₂ =-3π/4, and .o slashed.₃ =3π/4, then therespective symbols can be "00", "10", "11", and "01" resulting in abinary sequence of "00101101".

Since each window W_(A), W_(B), W_(C), and W_(D), is used to compute thephase estimate of the received PSK signal, a sequence of binary datawould be generated for each window. Due to intersymbol interference,only the phase estimates from each window W_(A) would be likely to bedecoded accurately. Therefore, data decoder 50 must decode each phaseestimate and provide a sequence of data equivalent in length to theunique word, (e.g. if the unique word has 3 symbols with two bits persymbol, then the length is 6 bits) to unique word detector 52.Furthermore, since it is not known a priori when the unique word hasbeen received the sequence must be advanced by one symbol for each ofthe N windows. For instance using the sequence of symbols describedabove data decoder 50 would transmit the following to the unique worddetector in the order listed:

W_(B) =001011 (assuming negligible intersymbol interference and noise)

W_(A) =001011 (assuming negligible noise)

W_(C) =001011 (assuming negligible intersymbol interference and noise)

W_(D) =?????? (on symbol boundary)

W_(B) =101101 (assuming negligible intersymbol interference and noise)

W_(A) =101101 (assuming negligible noise)

W_(C) =101101 (assuming negligible intersymbol interference and noise)

W_(D) =?????? (on symbol boundary)

W_(B) =1101 . . .

After the unique word is detected by unique word detector 52 only datafrom the synchronizing window is decoded. The decoded data is thenoutput to processor 22 for data processing.

A block diagram of unique word detector 52 is shown in FIG. 23.Correlator 170 receives an input of binary data from data decoder 50 andthe predetermined unique word from processor 22. Correlator 170 performsa symbol to symbol comparison of the symbol sequence of the decoded datato the symbols of the unique word. For instance if the unique wordcontained 3 symbols, "10", "11" and "01", using the example above,window W_(A) would match with a 1:1 correlation (i.e. all three symbolsmatch) to the unique word. Assuming data from windows W_(B) and W_(C)would be effected by intersymbol interference their respectivecorrelations may be degraded (i.e. the number of matching symbols may bereduced to only 1 or 2).

Unique word detector 52 uses a threshold comparator 172 that comparesthe number of matching symbols to a predetermined threshold and definesa measure of correlation between the sequence and the unique word. Ifthe number of matches is greater than or equal to the threshold, thendetect logic 174 will generate a detection signal. As indicated above,it is possible that more than one of the windows will provide sequencesthat exceed the threshold when a unique word is received. In a preferredembodiment, the predetermined threshold is adjustable, for instance, viaprocessor 22 to minimize probability of false alarm and maximize theprobability of detection as is well known.

Selection of the best window is accomplished in unique word detector 52by adding the correlation results of three consecutive sequences (e.g.sequences corresponding to windows W_(B), W_(A), and W_(C)) together toform a cumulative correlation value. Then adding the very nextcombination of three consecutive windows (e.g. W_(A), W_(C), and W_(D))to form another cumulative correlation value. If the second cumulativecorrelation value is less than the first, then the first cumulativecorrelation value corresponds to the window being most centralized withrespect to the symbol boundaries and the second of the three windowsshould be designated as the synchronizing window.

This process is implemented in unique word detector 52 by delaying eachmeasure of correlation (i.e. number of matches) determined by thecorrelator 170 for two intervals. For example, using the four windowexample shown in FIG. 9, an average phase estimate would be generatedevery 1/4 symbol period corresponding to the four windows. Accordingly,a sequence of binary data would be provided to the unique word detectorat a rate of 4 times the symbol interval. Thus each measure ofcorrelation should be delayed for 1/4 symbol time by delay 176 and thendelayed a second 1/4 of a symbol time by delay 178. The current measureof correlation, and the measures delayed 1/4 and 1/2 symbol times areadded together by adder 180 resulting in a cumulative correlation value.The cumulative correlation value is delayed for a 1/4 symbol time bydelay 182 and subsequently compared with the next cumulative correlationvalue by comparator 184. When a subsequent cumulative correlation valueis less than the previous one, and the unique word has been detected,detect logic 174 also provides an output indicating which window is thesynchronizing window. Processor 22 uses this information to control thedemodulator timing, i.e., SYMBOL TIMING signal utilized by AFC 46, ATRC48 and data decoder 50. It should be understood that the above-describedoperation of the unique word detector could be implemented in softwareas well.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with reference tospecific embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize thatmodifications and variations may be made without departing from theprinciples of the invention as described hereinabove and set forth inthe following claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A phase detector for use in a receiver of a digitalcommunications system, said receiver being capable of receiving a phaseshift keyed (PSK) signal representing a sequence of transmitted symbolsand converting the PSK signal so received into digital data comprisingdigital samples, the phase detector comprising:an instantaneous phasedecoder having an input of said digital data, said instantaneous phasedetector determining if a transition between consecutive digital sampleshas occurred such that one of 1) one digital sample has a valueassociated with a high level and a subsequent digital sample has a valueassociated with a low level, and 2) one digital sample has a valueassociated with said low level and a subsequent digital sample has avalue associated with said high level, and providing a decoded outputrepresentative of each said transitions; an instantaneous phaseestimator having an input coupled to said instantaneous phase decoder toreceive said decoded output, said instantaneous phase estimatorgenerating average phase estimates based on said transitions andproviding an output of said average phase estimates, wherein each of thesymbols is a associated with one of a set of known phases and each phaseestimate is associated with a symbol of the received PSK signal; and aformat converter operatively interfaced with said output of saidinstantaneous phase estimator, said format converter identifying, foreach phase estimate, one of the known phases associated therewith andproviding a first binary representation related to the known phase soidentified and providing a second binary representation indicative of adifference between said identified known phase and said phase estimate.2. The phase detector of claim 1, wherein said instantaneous phaseestimator averages a number of phase estimates to produce an averagephase estimate.
 3. The phase detector of claim 1, wherein each symbol isassociated with a phase characteristic of the PSK signal, saidinstantaneous phase estimator comprising:a counter for incrementing acounter value related to an instantaneous phase of said PSK signal; andan accumulator having a first input coupled to an output of said counterand a second input coupled to said instantaneous phase decoder, saidaccumulator accumulating said counter values upon each determinationthat a transition has occurred, said accumulation resulting in acumulative counter value.
 4. The phase detector of claim 1, furthercomprising:a differential phase detector having an input coupled to saidinstantaneous phase estimator, said differential phase detectorgenerating an output representative of a difference between each phaseestimate and a previous phase estimate.
 5. A method of determining thephase of a phase shift keyed (PSK) symbol received by a receiver used ina digital communications system, comprising the steps of:accepting aninput of digital samples, each digital sample having a high level or alow level; identifying transitions from said high level to said lowlevel and from said low level to said high level between successivedigital samples; and generating a phase estimate based on saidtransitions so identified by carrying out at least the followingsteps:starting a counter at the beginning of each window to provide anoutput of increasing counter values; incrementing the counter values ata rate defining a sampling rate; and accumulating counter valuescorresponding to instances at which a predetermined number ofconsecutive transitions have been identified, said accumulation ofcounter values being related to said phase estimate.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising the steps of:generating a number of phaseestimates for each symbol received; and averaging said number of phaseestimates over a period of time defining a window to provide an averagedphase estimate.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein a period of time overwhich each symbol is received defines a symbol period and said step ofgenerating said phase estimate comprises the steps of:generating a rampsignal having a lowest value corresponding to the beginning of eachwindow, said ramp signal increasing in value over a period of time; andaccumulating the values of said ramp signal corresponding to instanceswhen transitions are identified, said accumulation resulting in acumulative value.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the stepof:subtracting a predetermined phase offset from each value of said rampsignal corresponding to each transition from said high level to said lowlevel.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of generating saidramp signal is implemented using a counter.
 10. The method of claim 7,wherein said ramp signal is generated for a time substantially equal toone half of said window period, each said phase estimate beingrepresented by said cumulative value for each one half of said windowperiod, further comprising the step of:adding together said each twoconsecutive cumulative values and defining the sum as an average phaseestimate.
 11. The method of claim 5, further comprising the stepof:generating an interpolated counter value in the event that saidpredetermined number of consecutive transitions are not identified, saidinterpolated value being based on a difference between counter valuescorresponding to two consecutive transitions.
 12. The method of claim 5,further comprising the step of:subtracting a predetermined valueindicative of a phase offset from said accumulation of counter values ifa first counter value of the accumulated counter values corresponds to atransition from said high level to said low level.